


The Lioness

by bardofapollo



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Post-Canon, Season 5 Spoilers, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 04:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17257493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bardofapollo/pseuds/bardofapollo
Summary: After hundreds of years, the lioness leaves her den and confronts the Diamonds.





	The Lioness

**Author's Note:**

> I never write for Steven Universe but honestly it's a fun universe to explore. So please have some angst and be warned for graphic but not bloody/gory gem/human death.

Three diamonds stood in Pink’s old room. Steven was dwarfed in the presence of Blue and Yellow, even shorter than Pearl who stood watching the tense atmosphere. 

 

“That’s enough!” Yellow screamed. “We’ve entertained your game for far too long Pink. You are a diamond and it is time you act like one. No more of this Human nonsense. You are back on Homeworld, it is a new era, you cannot keep slacking!”

“I don’t know how else to explain it to you,” Steven pleaded. “I have her gem but I’m not Pink Diamond. I’m not Rose Quartz. I’m Steven!”

“Haven’t you gotten tired of this, Pink?” Blue looked disappointed. “Holding this absurd form, forgetting everything we’ve taught you. Why do you keep doing this?”

“I didn’t choose to be made. Things are different on Earth. When two people love each other they join and make something new, and that’s the beauty of it. I’m not Pink, I’m someone else entirely.”

“Fine, maybe not,” Yellow sniffed. “But you still hold her gem, which means we can take her back.”

“What?!”

“NO!” Pearl cried.

 

It was too late, Yellow Diamond plucked Steven from the ground while Blue Diamond brushed Pearl away with her giant hand. Pearl struggled as Blue held her against the wall and watched in horror as Yellow pried the gem right from Steven’s navel. 

He fell limp in her hands, the light drifting from his eyes. She discarded the shell of what was once Steven on the ground and held his gem gently in the palm of her hand. Blue directed her focus from Pearl to watch as a glow surrounded the stone.

Pearl stopped struggling and let out a choked sob. She covered her mouth as she muttered apologies, to herself, to Steven, to Greg, to Rose. She closed her eyes in defeat and let herself be overwhelmed by tears.

The diamond floated off Yellow’s palm and into the air. It was completely consumed by light, shifting into a vague outline of Pink Diamond, then Rose Quartz, before settling on a form between the two.

When she fully reformed she fell back into the Diamond’s palms on her hands and knees, disoriented and confused. After accessing what she could see from her view towards the ground, she looked up to meet the overjoyed faces of the diamonds she once considered her mothers.

 

“Where am I?! What’s going on?! How many years has it been?!” Pink Diamond demanded.

“Oh Pink!” Blue Diamond’s eyes welled up with tears, impacting the rest of the room. “It’s so lovely to see you again.”

Yellow smiled. “Welcome home.”

 

The smallest diamond scowled at the other two, still trying to grasp the situation.

“Where is my child? What did you do to them?”

“ROSE! I’m so sorry, Rose!” Pearl sobbed.

“Let me go!” Pink cried. She ripped herself from the other diamond’s grasp and ran over to her Pearl. 

“Pearl, I need you to listen to me. Tell me what happened. Where’s Greg? Where’s my child? Where are the Crystal Gems?” She begged.

“Oh Rose,” she sniffled. “His name is Steven. He was so much more than you imagined, Rose. So much more than human. He came here, to Homeworld. He wanted to save Earth, more than we ever could alone.”

“Where is he Pearl? What happened to my Steven?”

 

She let out another sharp sob and pointed to the boy’s lifeless body. Pink Diamond walked over in a daze, like she was floating on air. Melancholy hung thick in the air as she rested her eyes on her son. She kneeled on the floor and held him gently in her arms, murmuring apologies to his forehead.

 

“Pearl, take care of Steven.” She handed him over with care as she rose to her feet, kissing the crown of his head gently. “I need to speak with Blue and Yellow.”

“Um,, yes of course My Diamond,” she stuttered out, coming to take Steven from Pink’s arms. She fled the room quickly, leaving Pink alone with the other two diamonds.

 

“Oh Pink, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you would get so emotional about another one of your creations,” Blue cooed gently. She reached for the side of Pink’s face, only to be slapped away harshly.

“How dare you!” Yellow exclaimed. “After all we’ve done for you. After saving you from that disgusting prison you put yourself in on that dreadful planet!”

 

“You are a fool if you think you saved me.” Pink seethed. “I had everything I ever wanted and you destroyed it! Just like you destroy everything!”

“Now Pink don’t say that,” Blue frowned.

“I am not a child anymore. You both were given the roles of my mothers but you failed miserably and I have become more of a mother than either of you ever were! Steven was not just a creation! He was not life sapped from the planets you carelessly take and destroy! Steven was my greatest hopes and wishes. He was human. He was made of love. And he was going to do great things.”

“Is that such a way to speak to us?! You’re lucky we don’t punish you more harshly for this ridiculous stunt you’ve pulled. Disappearing for hundreds of years only to send back an organic holding you prisoner to begin the start of Era Three?”

“You will not speak of my son that way! He has his own free will. He is not your decoration or doll, and neither am I. Just having to be raised by you was punishment enough!”

“You are a Diamond, Pink! You need to act like it!” 

“No,” she hissed. “I am a Crystal Gem.”

 

She stormed from the room, leaving Yellow seething with anger. She felt Blue’s tears chasing her retreating back. Outside the door she grabbed Pearl’s hand, who was carrying a now breathing Steven.

 

“Where are we going to go now?” Pearl whispered.

“Home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed <33 
> 
> if you did please consider leaving me a tip on my ko-fi  
> https://ko-fi.com/marchdrain


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